Word: zambar
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...nine men are buried in a stony field beyond an orchard of pomegranate trees in the village of Zambar, in eastern Afghanistan. Above their graves, multi-colored flags ripple in the mountain wind - deceptively cheerful reminders of the black day when Australia's Special Air Service came to this valley...
...Australians' punishment is no consolation to villager Nan Gul, who was living in Zambar that day in May, 2002. "In our culture," he tells Time, "if you kill somebody, you must give them land, or a son and daughter in marriage to ease the burden of death." He said the same thing, he claims, to the Australian officer who arrived the day after the incident to apologize. "But we have had nothing from the foreigners, only empty promises...
...Back in Afghanistan, the disaster at Zambar has become a textbook case for coalition forces of what can go wrong if a unit doesn't get its local intelligence right. A newly arrived U.S. lieutenant was briefed on the incident when he arrived at the Khost base two months ago. Back in 2002, he says, "we didn't understand that if somebody around here starts shooting, they aren't necessarily shooting at you. These people all have enemies." After studying reports of the incident, the lieutenant has concluded that in the chaos of battle, at night, and in rough, unfamiliar...
...says. When he regained consciousness, his best friend Alif Shah was lying beside him. "A fire was burning inside his chest," Hassan recalls. "He was dead." The tribesmen on the ridge were too dazed and panicked to count the bombs, but Kamil Shah, who watched in horror from nearby Zambar village, says "80 to 100 bombs fell that night." His brother was up on the hill, and Kamil and several other villagers grabbed a few rope cots to use as stretchers for the wounded, but the intensity of the bombing forced them back until daybreak. One of the tribal elders...
...That's of little comfort to the Sabari villagers. The morning after the bombs fell, they say, Australian and U.S. officers drove into Zambar in their Humvees to apologize. They promised compensation, says Haji Khannamuddin, but three years on, not a penny has been paid. He and other village elders say most of the men killed on the mountainside that night were fathers. They leave behind almost 50 children, with no means of support other than handouts from fellow villagers. It's a terrible price to pay for somebody else's mistake...